Cobra Video

[Aggressor]

Check out this quarter mile entertainment.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...49633714130841

- Geary

[chris knueven]

geary....

o.k. now i am stoked,i talked with my brother sat nite and he was at
orlando dragway,we had made plans to hit test and tune on the 9th,
with the cobra,christ i am ready to leave work now and go race(i drove
the cobra to work today)...........

actually,i need to fix the miss brent keeps hasseling me about...my new shift
lite should be here wed or thurs,no more shifting at the miss(well not as much).

i am also trying to get ahold of a video camera,would someone be willing to
help me get the vids posted if i get some ?????

my goal is looooow 11's,if i get a 10.99 i will be ecstatic. biggest problem even
with the quick times will still be traction. oh well,if it breaks it will be time for
plan b or c........

chris (guessing he should get back to work!!!)

[Russ Dickey]

Cool video. He just kept getting quicker and quicker. Chris: do you have a full cage in your car? At the dragstrips around here, once one of the Cobras with a single hoop roll bar runs faster than 11.50, they kick them out. Unfortunately, I have yet to be kicked out.

[chris knueven]

russ,

i was worried at first about that problem. the guys i am going there with
have been running at orlando since the track was built,or close to it.
they talked to the track mgr,told him what i had and how quick i thought
it might be. the requirements the mgr laid down were

full face helmet only...
leather jacket fully on/fastened
long jeans/no shorts(you wouldn't believe the idiots who try to run in shorts)
no sandals/open toed shoes...another florida thing i guess...
he would prefer i wear wrist restraints(ordered em yesterday)
once i go quicker than 11.50 all runs will be singles/no side by side....
he also told wayne(guy i'm going with),he would prefer 2 very hard
launches with a coast down the strip/then 2 easy launches with a top
end charge.....probably to make sure i keep it straight...

should be interesting,i talked to some guys that run bradenton,i am
only 10 miles or so away at work,they basically told me the same....
faster than 11.50 for one pass only then gone.....

oh well, if all else fails i'll buy a gtech pro,i have got a couple of pretty
desolate backroads to test on........

chris

[Brent]

Keep it straight!!

[Slither]

OOOOOOUUUCCHHH!!!! That almost looks like Chris' car...

Did this turn out OK for the driver? How bad was it for the car?

[Justin Upchurch]

Chris,

Keep us posted on what your car runs. I think if it will 60ft in the mid 1.5s you should be able to get into the 10s.

Justin

[Slither]

I've never been to the drag races. Is the first number posted on the bottom display board at the drag strip the 60ft. time? It looked like that number is replaced once the car crossed the finish line...

[Slither]

Check out the road race stuff in this clip... the Cobras spin-out a few times!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...35452486470006

[chris knueven]

brent....

WOW,that is a wild ride!!!!!
i hope to keep from bieng able to see the underside of mine.....

chris

[Russ Dickey]

I've never been to the drag races. Is the first number posted on the bottom display board at the drag strip the 60ft. time? It looked like that number is replaced once the car crossed the finish line...

Paul:
The first set of numbers you see in the video are the 60' times. However, they are actually the second set of numbers usually posted, as normally the reaction times are first. As you assumed, the final numbers to be posted are the E.T and MPH, once the cars cross the timing and mph lights at the end.

[eliminator]

I liked the big Dodge SRT-10 Truck.

[Slither]

Thanks Russ, I did not even see that there were reaction times posted. Do the drivers actually see these numbers and use them while racing, or is that just for the crowd... I mean, can you concentrate on the numbers while you are trying to get the mail delivered to the other end of the track?

[Justin Upchurch]

Paul,
Most of the time the driver does not see their reaction time until they get the timeslip. I can't recall a time when I looked at the scoreboard during the run, I think it would be too tall anyways. However there is a light just above the wall after the last speed trap that will come on if you win your race. I always looked for that light.
If you have ever wondered why a slower car wins a race, it is because of reaction time. The clocks do not start when the light goes green, they start when the front tires break the first clock beam. Most of the cars I have driven have had mufflers or a trubo that quieted the exhaust and on test and tune nights, if staged next to an open exhaust car I would just sit there when the light went green and let that car get halfway down the track before my launch so that I could listen to my own car. If your car doesn't run 7s there isn't any need for open headers. There is nothing more anoying than that 69 Camaro with uncorcked exhaust turnning 13s.
As for the car that climbed the wall it looks to be a pro-cage style car common in the super catagories. If I had to guess, he left with a big wheel stand and either did not come back down or lost controle on the "bounce". A car like ours really doesn't have to worry about this because of the shock setup. If one of our cars goes to the track you only have to worry about wheel spin and getting kicked out of the track for lack of proper safety equipment.

Justin

[Slither]

Thanks Justin, that is what I thought... I would be concentrating on keeping it between the lines and shifting.

[Russ Dickey]

Yep, I'm with Justin. I've never once paid any attention to the timing boards. I keep my eyes on the track, with maybe a quick glance to the gauges, and a look at my competitor to make sure he's not coming into my lane (hopefully he's behind me..)

If you're bracket racing, then you have to watch your competition a little more closely.

[Brent]

They only display reaction times/60ft/330ft etc. on the boards during time trials.

Too many fancy gadgets in the cars now days for bracket racing.
stutter boxes,top end nitrous solenoids, timing computers,secondary caliper solenoids, etc.

How do you get a car to make 7 passes within a couple of .001's????
****CHEAT****

Thats why I quit.

[Justin Upchurch]

Brent,

It is funny that you mention this. I went and looked at a friends new bracket car that he races for a living, he makes all the big bracket racing events. It is amazing the stuff that is on this car, it is nothing like the old delay boxes and this was the first time I had seen the caliper solenoids. It is amazing to me that this is a car that will run 7.20s and is dialed in to go 9.90. And I think this car has well over $120K in it.
Are people really running Nitrous on the back half in bracket racing?

Justin

[Brent]

Sick is the word.

Yes, if they feel they missed the bulb they will run to the MPH cones and let the guy have a fender or so and then give it a spray to take the finish line away. Or they will will spray at mid track, take a fender away, get the other guy to spray at the cones, and then lay on the brakes hard at the stripe to get him to break out if he is a sprayer too.

The new delay boxes that let you hit both sides of the tree will tell you which side you hit and how much it chose by. There is another button on the wheel called a bump down switch. You can set it to any .001 increment you want. Most set it to .010. If you miss the bulb you can hit this button as many times as you feel you need to for a good bulb. It subtracts .010 from the delay timer each time you hit it. A friend of mine won Tenn Tuck for 10K last year and in the final he missed the tree bad, hit the button four or five times before the car launched and had a .003 light. It would have been a .053 without.

Bracket racing was started to equalize the class and give everyone a chance. Now it is even bigger money than class racing.

[Justin Upchurch]

And some people think drag racing is a low-tech sport......